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Saturday, June 3, 2017

Discovery Channel: Ice Age Columbus

Discovery Channel produced this docu-drama presenting the recently discovered evidence that Europeans of the stone-age Solutrean culture reached eastern North America perhaps 2000 years before Asians (ancestors of "native" Americans) entered North American from the Northwest over the Bering land bridge. I find the drama they created unlikely, but the scientific evidence is compelling. It appears that Europeans did in fact reach North America long before "native Americans" did.

Here's Smithsonian Anthropologist Dr. Dennis Stanford giving a lecture on the same evidence of the
prehistoric peopling of America by Solutreans, obtained by studying ancient projectile points
and mitochondrial DNA evidence.

Yes, it is true, however science is not settled by consensus, but by data. It is commonly the case in science that new data is rejected by holders of old theories (read Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn).

Unfortunately, the coastline of north America c. 17,000 years ago now lies up to 50 miles off the current shoreline. If there is additional evidence for the Solutrean hypothesis, it is likely much of it is currently underwater.

According to some geneticists, there is genetic evidence that can only be explained by the Solutrean hypothesis:

"Genetic analysis is also keeping the out-of-Europe idea alive.

"One variant of DNA that is inherited only from a mother, called mitochondrial DNA, and is found in many Native Americans has been traced to western Eurasia but is absent from east Eurasia, where Beringia was before the sea covered it, Oppenheimer explained. For the variant, called X2a, to have such a high frequency in Native Americans "it must have got across the Atlantic somehow," he said. The new study "completely ignored this evidence, and only the Solutrean hypothesis explains it.""

I of course am not claiming that the Solutrean hypothesis is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, only that the fact that "most archaeologists and geneticists don't accept Standford's claims" is not in itself evidence that his claims are unworthy of consideration. At the time of Galileo, most astronomers did not accept Galileo's claims! In fact, the bulk of evidence stood against the heliocentric hypothesis and in favor of a motionless earth, and Galileo himself admitted it in his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. He argued however that the Copernican hypothesis was mathematically superior (i.e. favored reason/theory over evidence).

"To this end I have taken the Copernican side in the discourse, proceeding as with a pure mathematical hypothesis and striving by every artipee to represent it as superior to supposing the earth motionless–not, indeed absolutely, but as against the arguments of some professed Peripatetics."

My Guide To Time-Restricted Feeding

My book on time-restricted feeding and periodic fasting for health, fat loss and muscle building. Click on image to get the book FREE in pdf form, or buy a paperback from Amazon.

Most Published Research Findings Are FALSE

In the August 2005 publication of the online PLOS, John Ioannidis thoroughly explained "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False." He showed that "Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias."

I don't remember when I first read his paper (probably no later than 2010), but I do know that I didn't begin to take him very seriously until about February 2017. Up until then, I thought that I could discover the truth about diet, nutrition and health by sorting through and analyzing published diet and nutrition research, which to say the least presents contradictory findings from different camps with different biases.

In late 2016, after more than 5 years eating an apparently nutrient-dense, high protein vegan diet, I had a blood test that showed that I had significantly low levels of globulin and phosphorus, indicating that I was likely not getting adequate protein or phosphorus from that diet.

Since then, I have worked on ridding myself of the belief that published diet and nutrition "science" or research is credible by virtue of its publication. I have worked on switching to relying on my own direct experience and senses of need, preference, taste, and satisfaction to guide my food choices. I am hoping to help others do the same.

If I could relay only one message from this point forward it would be: DON'T PUT YOUR FAITH IN SCIENCE AND DON'T RELY ON AUTHORITIES. BECOME SELF-RELIANT AND AUTONOMOUS.

Disclaimer

At one time I used this blog to explore and support the theory and practice of modernized, highly animal-based paleo and low-carb diets.

As I evolved, I became a paleo-diet heretic, and this blog became an exploration and presentation of the evidence values that support the practice of a whole foods plant-based diet.

Everything changes, and my experience, knowledge and understanding are no exception. In short, I have found the weaknesses and faults in plant-based ideology and practice as well.

I have tried to digest and assimilate the apparently conflicting information coming from the opposite ends of the diet debates (meat-based and high-fat vs. plant-based high-carbohydrate).

I have incorporated that new information into my world view and perspective and in the process revealed and corrected my errors when necessary.

The Chinese sage Chuang Tzu observed: "Tao is obscured when men understand only one pair of opposites, or concentrate only on a partial aspect of being. Then clear expression also becomes muddled by mere wordplay, affirming this one aspect and denying all the rest. The pivot of Tao passes through the center where all affirmations and denials converge. He who grasps the pivot is at the still-point from which all movements and oppositions can be seen in their right relationship... Abandoning all thought of imposing a limit or taking sides, he rests in direct intuition. "

Through understanding and experimenting with the dietary opposites, in late February 2017 I came to an understanding of the still-point between the extremes and the role of "intuition" from one's True Nature in solving the apparent dilemma.

About Me

I am a member of MENSA who has not always made smart choices. I have a master's degree in philosophy, and do my best to pursue truth and virtue. I have made mistakes in public, and have not been afraid to admit it. I believe that if I'm not making mistakes, I'm not learning or growing or living fully. Like Thoreau, I believe that "life is an experiment to a great extent untried," and that a philosopher should show by example a better way of life, not just spout doctrines and arguments. I value freedom and abhor slavery. I have a master's degree in Oriental medicine and the course work equivalent of a bachelor's degree in nutrition. I seek health, fitness, and longevity through self-discipline in physical training and food. In short, I practice macrobiotics: philosophy, freedom, fitness, and food. Hopefully others can learn from my successes and my mistakes.